Orthodox Christian believers are observing Easter, a week later than the religious holiday was celebrated this year by Western churches. Eastern Orthodox churches, which observe the ancient Julian calendar, usually celebrate Easter later as months are longer in this calendar.

Published: April 8, 2018 11:34:46 pm

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Orthodox Christian believers are observing Easter, a week later than the religious holiday was celebrated this year by Western churches. In several parts of the world where Christians use the Julian calendar as used by some eastern or Orthodox churches, instead of the Gregorian calendar, the date may vary and usually falls a little later as months in this calender are longer. Click through to see photos of Orthodox Easter from Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Kosovo among others.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill conducts the Orthodox Easter service at the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow. (Source: AP)

A Lithuanian Orthodox priest blesses cakes and Easter eggs during an Orthodox Easter ceremony at the Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius, Lithuania. (Source: AP)

Kosovo Serb Orthodox nuns hold candles during an Easter vigil mass in the monastery of Gracanica during an Easter service, Kosovo on Sunday.

Orthodox worshipers light candles during a service on the eve of Easter Sunday in the town of Novogrudok, 150 km (93 miles) west of Minsk, Belarus.

Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill releases a bird celebrating the Annunciation, on the eve of Orthodox Easter at the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow. (Source: AP)

Eastern Orthodox churches, which observe the ancient Julian calendar, usually celebrate Easter later than Western churches. Lithuanian Orthodox believers light candles during an Easter vigil mass in the Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius. (Source: AP)

Greek Orthodox priests carry a cauldron with Holy Fire brought from Jerusalem outside a church in Athens on eve of Orthodox Easter.

A Greek Orthodox priest lights candles of the faithful with Holy Fire brought from Jerusalem inside a church in Athens. In Greece, the faithful attended Easter Mass holding candles lit with "Holy Fire" from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. (Source: AP)

Head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Onuphrius, lights believers' candles with fire which was delivered to the Ukrainian capital from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem's Old City, traditionally believed to be the burial place of Jesus Christ, after the ceremony of the Holy Fire, during the Easter service in the Monastery of Caves in Kiev, Ukraine. (Source: AP)